Good quality headphones to recommend?

BoboTheMighty

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Just killed another pair so something with detachable cords and for a good price if possible. Durable enough to survive if someone were to constantly trip over cables.
 
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Just whatever you do, STAY AWAY from Astro headsets!

Cheapest junk ever. $300 for a headset (it was gifted to me), and already had 2 pairs completely die for no reason. The mic also sounds like a McDonald's drive-thru and the headphone quality is really bad, except for one EQ setting that makes it sound decent.

Might want to try a Plantronics set. I had an older set of theirs and good god, pure class for a crazy cheap price. I mean, the mic was at least 3x better than the Astro set, and the headphone quality I actually tested side by side with a $200 pair of Sennheisers. Ultimately, not quite as bright in the mid and high ranges as the Senn's, but overall really great sound especially considering the price. I sold the Senns. :)

Wouldn't recommend Turtle Beach, either, since their cables are too long and are prone to wrapping themselves up and then snapping at weak points.
 
Does anyone have any experience with Razer headsets? Im not looking for the top whatever. But since I already have a razer mechanical keyboard and a razer naga mouse....I guess I'm tempted to grab a razer headset now that this one is dying out on me.
 
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Probably something you already know -- but be sure to get "open" rather than "closed" headphones as the latter can more readily cause damage to one's hearing while the former are generally safe to use.

__
 
Does anyone have any experience with Razer headsets? Im not looking for the top whatever. But since I already have a razer mechanical keyboard and a razer naga mouse….I guess I'm tempted to grab a razer headset now that this one is dying out on me.

Do you get set bonuses? :p
 
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Do you get set bonuses? :p

Heh :p Somewhat. A lot of the fancy headsets come with their own software and i'd rather avoid installing yet another app. Since I already have the razer software to map keys and triggers, their headset would probably run with the same software.
 
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Huh. Didn't know that, actually.

What it is, is :) :

the closed headsets have an impermeable plate/element between the exterior of each earphone and the outside world. This prevents any sound from the outside world from getting into the earphone, but more importantly from a health standpoint, it also prevents any dissipation of the headphone energy. All energy of the headphone is focused onto and received by the user's eardrums. And headphones can produce a lot of energy as it turns out. Lots of radio announcer types -- who wear headphones all day long -- end up becoming literally deaf as as result. The open headphones allow the mini-speaker in the headphone to produce the same level of high quality sound without the massive changes in air pressure that can occur within the environment of closed headphones.

Regards.

__
 
What it is, is :) :

the closed headsets have an impermeable plate/element between the exterior of each earphone and the outside world. This prevents any sound from the outside world from getting into the earphone, but more importantly from a health standpoint, it also prevents any dissipation of the headphone energy. All energy of the headphone is focused onto and received by the user's eardrums. And headphones can produce a lot of energy as it turns out. Lots of radio announcer types -- who wear headphones all day long -- end up becoming literally deaf as as result. The open headphones allow the mini-speaker in the headphone to produce the same level of high quality sound without the massive changes in air pressure that can occur within the environment of closed headphones.

That's good info that I wasn't aware of. I was just looking at headphones recently, and I don't recall seeing "open" or "closed" listed on the packaging for any of them. I guess I'll need to do some additional research before making my next choice.

As far as headphones go, I game exclusively with them. In fact, I haven't used regular speakers for gaming in at least 5 or 6 years now. That said, I've never spent more than $40 on headphones. I'm currently using a pair of $20 Sony headphones, and I'm hard-pressed to tell the difference between them and some of the $200 sets I've sampled in stores.
 
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That said, I've never spent more than $40 on headphones. I'm currently using a pair of $20 Sony headphones, and I'm hard-pressed to tell the difference between them and some of the $200 sets I've sampled in stores.
I usually just go to a shop and pick headphones by sound. I listen to some song which I know the sound of in the good headphones. I can instantly tell the quality this way. There are some trashy expensive headphones actually, and very very rarely you can find cheap ones with good sound.

I say it b\c I don't see the point of this thread, without listening firsthand you can buy some trash accidentally. How can you trust what people say online. I've seen people who can't even tell mono sound from stereo sound by listening to it in headphones! Let alone tell you which headphones are good enough quality…

But why would anyone want open headphones, as was suggested above? I buy them so that nobody hears me gaming. If nobody around you (even neighbors) minds listening to you gaming, just use the speakers. That's safer for your ears, too. :)
 
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I can recommend HyperX Cloud II Gaming Headset.

Because:
1. Good sound quality for music and for gaming.
2. Virtual surround sound works very well, using it's USB sound thingy. The headphones can also be used without said USB device, by plugging them into a standard headphone outlet. (This means that you can also, if you want, plug other headphones to the USB unit.)
3. Solid built, there are actually metal in the important structures.
4. Fairly cheap compared to other headphones (at least in Norway). Best Buy sells it for 89 USD.

One shortcoming: You can't configure the sound apart from switching between 7.1 mode and stereo. However, the sound is very good by default, so I don't miss it.

@elel: I use open headphones (Koss portapro) at home when the wife is around, because she likes to get in touch with me now and then.

pibbur currently (at work) using his Sennheiser ear-plugs. So don't speak to him, he won't hear you.

PS. I'm not too concerned about closed vs open headphones at home. The important issue is the volume, of the sound, which you control. In noisy environments open headphones can be worse, because you tend to turn up the volume to drown out (correct english?) the background noise. Closed headphones, by partly eliminating the background allow you to play your music at a lower volume, noise cancelling headphones are even better. Assuming that you actually do play your music at a lower volume. DS.
 
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But why would anyone want open headphones, as was suggested above?
Open headphones tend to generate better sound quality so it is very common among high-end headphones to be open.


For music, I have a Sennheiser HD800 and use an older Sennheiser HD650 for gaming …both are open :).
 
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Open headphones tend to generate better sound quality so it is very common among high-end headphones to be open.


For music, I have a Sennheiser HD800 and use an older Sennheiser HD650 for gaming …both are open :).

Didn't know that. Thanks.

pibbur who thinks that his (open) Portapros sounds surprisingly good, considering their very low price. And hideous looks.
 
I recommend this one:

https://steelseries.com/gaming-headsets/siberia-200

Supposedly this is the one that replaces the steel series v2. It has good sound quality, good feel on the ears and has extensions for the mic and the sound plug that "unplugs" if you do a small tug on it ensuring it is handy when you trip over it and it still useable after you unplug the cable many times by tripping on them.

I dont suggest the kingston hyper x cloud II in your case because the wires are very unforgiving and can bend rather easily, mine broke(not literally) after i tried to untangle the wires.
 
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I dont suggest the kingston hyper x cloud II in your case because the wires are very unforgiving and can bend rather easily, mine broke(not literally) after i tried to untangle the wires.

OK. I haven't had that problem myself, possibly because I have taped the very long USB to USB-device cable to my desktop. But it seems to be worth considering.

pibbur
 
OK. I haven't had that problem myself, possibly because I have taped the very long USB to USB-device cable to my desktop. But it seems to be worth considering.

pibbur

Why didnt I think of that?
 
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Mabye Razer upped their quality, but the Headset I bought like 10 years ago from them was a horrible experience. Yes, the sound was great, but the microphone was horrible and recorded lots of noise. Apparently they also offered an overpriced soundcard to filter that out…
And even the headphones itself broke after a couple of months. Started rattling when you had lower noises.
Though I like my Razer Keyboard, I am not a big fan of most Razer products.

But yeah, in general you should decide first if you want to use closed or open headphones. I don't know about any health impact. But there is a big difference just in the use of them:
Closed headphones: The pressure on your head is bigger in general. This is normally not an issue, but if you wear glasses, depending on your glasses, closed headphones can be painful after just a couple of minutes.
The big advantage of closed headphones is that they are isolated and the sound might be cleaner. But at the same time isolation is also a negative thing. Personally I highly disliked using these when I had to use my microphone. To me it feels completely odd to speak and not hear yourself. You can set it up so that you hear yourself digitally, but it's not optimal either. You might not have problems with it, but I did.

My recommendation for headsets always goes out to Sennheiser as they make great quality products. After I tested out a range of headsets I was introduced to sennheiser by a friend and since then I never used anything else. I used like 5-6 different sennheiser Headphones now and will not consider anything else anymore (except Beyerdynamic). Why did I already use to many? Because they broke due to my stupidity. Sennheiser headsets are extremely durable compared to others. But you can only roll over the cables and drop the headset to the floor so often.
These are the ones I used so far:
Sennheiser HD 201 - Headphones only, with 25€ extremely cheap and also rather bad. Skip these.
Sennheiser PC 131 - Open headphones, which has a "flat"surface ear parts lying directly on your ears. Working incredibly well though. Rather cheap and high value headset.
Sennheiser PC 151 - Cheap looking but high quality (and somewhat pricey) "open" headphones. Probably the most classic one.
Sennheiser PC 320 - Good headphones which however are a little cheaply put together. Left and Right volume was a little different if not set to maximum. I didn't like the regulation of volume where you have to turn a big chunk. This increases mechanical components and it's less prone to damage by that. It's still a good headset though.
Sennheiser Game One - Expensive but great "open" headset. Top quality. The isolation on the microphone isn't great though. I am using it together with pop/wind protection I bought on amazon here Had to duct tape it. Not optimal but it works well. In use for 1 1/2 years now.

I also used at least one other headphone which was a closed one and which I didn't like but I think it's not available anymore. However it also included an external soundcard which is in a cable which outperforms every internal solution I have seen so far, including an expensive soundblaster soundcard.

Now for work I am also using a headphone without microphone.
I looked for one which isolates me as good as possible. Bought a Beyerdynamic DT770 M, which is extremely expensive but also does a great job in isolating you from noise (without using noise cancellation electronics). Also great sound.
 
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